For the Love of a Cup of Coffee
by halfadozentimes
Summary: Alternate universe where Nick and Monroe are just two regular guys who meet by chance. Monroe ends up stopping at a small coffee shop on his way home one day and meets the owner, Nick. But when Nick becomes more than just the owner of Monroe's favorite coffee shop, can they work through their differences to make the new relationship work?
1. Chapter 1

**As much as I wish they were, these characters aren't mine. This particular chapter is clean, the rating is just for parts of chapters that will come later. This is my first attempt at a chapter fic so I hope you guys enjoy it. **

Monroe quickly made his way down the icy sidewalk, looking for a place to get away from the biting cold. He was absolutely fanatic about Christmas, but the month before when it's nothing but cold and snow and you can't even consider it to be Christmas time wasn't that great at all. He had been visiting his friend Rosalee at the old shop she owned, and he hadn't been expecting the snow storm until much later, but he was currently trying to walk through sheets of heavy snow, wishing that he had worn a coat as his sweater was doing nothing to keep the cold out. The uniquely shaped snowflakes were falling down hard, plenty of them finding their way into his curly brown hair. Just as he was about to turn around and go back to Rosalee's shop until the storm died out, he spotted a little coffee shop just a few buildings down.

A smile spread across his face as he continued pushing down the sidewalk through the snow, as this particular coffee shop was a place that he used to go to rather often, but between work and friends he just hadn't found the time for it in several months. The smell of multiple caffeinated drinks and brownies seeped through the glass to meet him while he was still a few yards away. At the thought of having a warm drink in a heated building, Monroe picked up his pace and entered the small building.

The warmth of the heated building washed over him as he walked towards the counter, brushing the snow from his shoulders as his eyes scanned over the list of coffees, espressos, cappuccinos, brownies, cookies, and all kinds of other things that were way off of the diet he had been trying to stick to.

"Wow, the snow is really coming down out there," the guy behind the counter observed as he walked up from the back room with a towel in his hands. At the sound of his voice Monroe's gaze trailed down from the menu to rest on the man in front of him. He had tousled black hair, misty blue eyes, and a crooked smile, the nametag that was pinned to his dark green apron spelling out 'Nick' in big black letters. "What can I get for you?"

"Yeah, we're in for one hell of a winter this year. The options have definitely changed since the last time I was in here, but…I'll just have a regular coffee." Monroe let a small smile spread across his face, suddenly unaware of the melted snow that was seeping through his sweater.

"Just a coffee? You don't want anything special on a horribly cold day like this? You sure?"

"Well…what would you suggest, you typical pushy salesmen?" Monroe asked, getting Nick to crack a smile.

"The double-fudge macchiato, it's really good and it sounds more masculine than a cappuccino, don't you think? Plus, it's only two dollars more than the coffee."

"Alright, I'll take one of those. But it better be good, because I'm going to hold that against you," Monroe promised as he handed the money for the drink over the counter.

"You can go ahead and find a seat, I'll bring it out to you when it's done." Nick smiled as he grabbed a glass from under the counter and watched Monroe walk away to take a seat in the corner.

Monroe sank into a comfortable arm chair in the corner where drywall met glass and looked out on the street as the snow made it nearly impossible to see car lights or people walking down the sidewalk. His body gave an involuntary shiver at the thought of having to go back out in that mess, as the numbness in his fingers was just starting to fade. Not only was his coat hanging in the closet at home, but his gloves were shoved into the pockets on it. He took a look around the shop at the pictures of coffee beans on the walls, tons of comfy chairs, and plenty of tables to eat at, making a mental note to never forget about this place again.

"Double-fudge macchiato for the freezing cold guy in the soaking wet sweater." Nick had walked over to where Monroe was sitting, smiling as he handed the hot drink to the other.

"I'm not freezing cold, it's nice and warm in here," Monroe assured Nick as he took a careful sip of his drink.

"No, but you were before you came in here. Would you like a brownie?" Nick offered, taking a seat next to Monroe as he held out a thick square of a white-chocolate covered brownie to the other.

"No thanks, this macchiato is already far enough off of my diet."

"Ah, come on, just break the rules this one time. I promise you that it's one hell of a brownie, and I'm giving it to you for free."

"Won't you get in trouble with your boss if you just give me a free brownie?"

"No, I own the place. I don't have anybody to answer to, if you take the brownie it simply means I have to make another one free of profit."

"You make them?" Monroe questioned, finally giving in and taking the brownie from Nick with an appreciative nod and a smile, his fingers brushing against the other's hand.

"Yeah, I make everything here. Not all of the sweets are exactly from scratch, but the brownies are. What do you think, is it worth breaking your diet?"

"Definitely," Monroe decided after taking a bite of the warm, rich brownie with the melt-in-your-mouth white-chocolate icing. He couldn't keep himself from smiling, his heartbeat speeding up every time he looked into Nick's eyes.

"I'm Nick by the way, but I'm sure you read my name tag already," Nick introduced himself with a smile.

"Yes I did, but it's nice to meet you anyway. I'm Monroe." Monroe offered Nick his hand, taking a long drink of his macchiato as his brownie rested on his leg.

"Nice to meet you Monroe," Nick said, firmly shaking Monroe's hand. "I didn't notice an extra car back in the parking lot, did you walk here in this storm?"

"Well earlier this morning I walked to go see a friend because it wasn't snowing then, and once I went to leave it was starting up but I thought I could make it home before it got really bad, but it was just getting worse so I came in here. I'm glad that I did, too, because this really is a good macchiato. And you're right, it does sound more masculine than cappuccino."

"Then I guess that means you're stuck here until the storm passes, huh?"

"Yeah, guess I am." Monroe wrapped his hands around his drink while the last bit of cold was tingling in his fingertips, finally disappearing from his body.

"Hey, so, that diet that you said you were breaking by getting anything here? What exactly does it consist of?"

"Well for one, definitely not this much sugar. It's not exactly a strict diet that only consists of certain things, I've just been trying to eat healthier. Eating more natural things, avoiding artificial flavors and all."

"Well, could I take you to dinner and you can show me what kind of stuff _is _on your diet?"

At first Monroe thought he had heard Nick wrong or that the other had just been joking with him, but when he looked into Nick's eyes, the anxious look there told him otherwise, and he couldn't help but smile.


	2. Chapter 2

**This took me an awful long time to write and finally be satisfied with considering that it's mainly just dialogue, but here it is! The characters haven't magically become mine since the previous chapter, and this chapter doesn't live up to the rating either. But I hope you guys like it and the third chapter should be up fairly soon as I'm already working on it.**

The snow had cleared up and allowed the setting sun to shine in through the windows of the small restaurant where Monroe and Nick had decided to go for dinner. They had been going over the menu for a good half hour, Nick asking Monroe questions about every last option, like if they applied to his diet and what parts of it he could or couldn't eat. The waitress had already come by three times before they finally knew what they wanted, ordering rather similar meals.

"You don't have to order the same way that I do, you know," Monroe reminded Nick before taking a drink of his water.

"I know, I'm just curious as to what your diet is like. And what better way to find out than to have a dinner the way that you would?"

"It's really nice of you, though, rather than sitting there and eating something that I like but can't have."

"Ah, just trying not to be a dick," Nick explained with a smile.

The waitress returned at that moment with their dinner, and they both thanked her with a smile, starting on their meals in silence for a moment.

"So, Monroe, what do you do for a living?" Nick took a moment to stop between bites and ask the question.

"You know the Marriott downtown?"

"You work there?"

"I own the place. I actually don't have to go in very often, but it's a nice place."

"Wow." Nick put his fork down, suddenly uninterested in his dinner. "So does that mean I could get you to give me a discount if I ever need to stay downtown?"

"I don't know, I guess that would depend on how tonight goes." Monroe smiled, stabbing his fork into a piece of chicken.

"Well, I apologize for dragging you to an old no-name place like this."

"No, Nick, are you kidding me? I love this, it's great. Anytime I go to dinner with business partners we end up in the most expensive restaurants in the area. It's nice to do something normal for a change, believe me."

"Well then I'm glad you like it, it's one of my favorite places."

"It's really nice, we'll definitely have to come back," Monroe agreed, looking around the spacious restaurant with a nice and quiet atmosphere.

"We?" Nick questioned after swallowing a bite of his dinner.

"Yeah, as in you and me. Unless you've already decided that you can't stand me."

"No, it's more likely to be the other way around. You probably know important people who know which fork is for the salad," Nick said with a smirk.

"The one on the outside is for the salad, and hey, I actually have some normal friends," Monroe smiled, beginning to really like Nick.

"Really? And who do you like better? Normal people or salad-fork people?" Nick questioned, really trying not to laugh at that point.

"Shut up, there is nothing wrong with knowing which fork you're supposed to use first," Monroe defended, hiding his smile with a bite of food. "Normal or salad-fork, it depends on the particular person."

"Okay, salad-forks aside, have you ever had anybody famous stay in your hotel?"

"Famous…I can't think of anybody famous, maybe somebody that I wasn't aware of. Oh, we did have a serial killer in there one time."

"How did you ever come to legally own a hotel if you're renting rooms to serial killers?"

"Because I didn't rent him a room. There was this huge police chase going on because the guy had been spotted, and he ran in through the back door and hid in the bathroom."

"Really? And how long did that last for him?"

"Oh, it took about five seconds flat before the first floor was swarmed with police officers, SWAT teams, everybody. It took a good ten minutes for them to get the guy out, thank god there wasn't anybody else in there for him to try and hold hostage. It was a mess for us though, because a bunch of employees and I had to block all entrances to that area of the building, and people were trying to get close enough to see what was going on, and it was an awfully big deal."

"So he was just completely unarmed?"

"I think he did some damage to a few police officers with his bare hands, but as far as I know he didn't have a weapon, unless of course they got it away from him pretty quickly."

"Well, I bet you were all over the news."

"Heh, yeah, not exactly what you'd call good publicity," Monroe scoffed, taking one of the last few bites of his dinner.

"So where do you live? In an apartment, house?"

"I've got a house down south of here, actually. Remember when I said that I had been walking home from visiting a friend when I stopped into your shop?"

"Yeah, which wasn't very smart of you in this weather," Nick pointed out to him.

"Well her shop is nearly ten miles from my house, it's a good walk if the weather cooperates. It didn't do so today, but it's nice in the summer. How about you, where do you live?"

"I've got an apartment just ten minutes north of my coffee shop. I should probably start walking when the weather allows, but since I close up shop after dark in the fall and winter, it's nice to have the safety of a car to get home in."

Nick took a drink of his water before looking back up at Monroe, his dark brown eyes reflected the overhead lights. His brown hair was combed back but it still curled around his ears, letting the messier side of Monroe shine through, the one that had walked into his coffee shop a few hours earlier. He watched as the other spoke, lost in the way that his lips perfectly formed every word.

"Nick?"

"Yeah?" Nick responded, snapping himself back to reality.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Nick assured him, backing up that statement with a genuine smile.

"How was everything for you two?" The waitress asked as she reappeared at their table, clearing away their empty plates.

"Really great, thank you," Nick said with a smile, and Monroe nodded in agreement.

"Can you get you anything for dessert or will this be all for you?"

"Could we get two slices of apple pie?" Nick asked her, purposely avoiding eye contact with Monroe.

"Apple pie?"

"Nick," Monroe warned shortly, but Nick chose to directly ignore him.

"Yes ma'am, if we could."

"Absolutely. I'll be right back with that for you." The bleach-blonde waitress gave them one last smile, finishing up her job of clearing the table before walking back to the kitchen.

"So you wanted to eat a dinner like me, and then you break the diet by getting dessert?"

"Come on, Monroe, live a little. The pie won't hurt you. Please tell me you like apple pie though, right?"

"I love it, but it's not part of my diet."

"Oh well. You'll live. If you really walk into town as much as you say you do then you'll work it off soon enough anyway."

"When I die from lack of health because of the food you're getting me to eat, I will come back and haunt your ass, you hear me?"

"Yeah, that's understood. Don't worry, I will keep you in good health and run a marathon with you so that you don't die."

"I should just refuse to eat it."

"You could, that would just make more pie for me."

The waitress returned a moment later with two slices of fresh apple pie, scoops of vanilla ice cream already starting to melt on top of them. She set the pie down in front of them along with the check for their meal, thanking them for coming in with a perfect smile before walking off and leaving them to their dessert. Nick started on his right away while Monroe rolled his eyes, spreading the ice cream around his pie's top layer of crust.

"You are going to eat that, right?" Nick questioned, gesturing towards the untouched pie sitting in front of Monroe.

"Might as well, since you're paying for it anyway." Monroe finally took a bite of his pie, the ice cream melted all over the entire slice. He wasn't about to admit it to Nick, but it was a really good piece of pie.

"Hey, who said I was paying?"

"Well you were the one who asked me to dinner, therefore you pay," Monroe explained with a smile.

"Really? I own a small coffee shop but I have to pay for a hotel owner's dinner?" Nick questioned, trying to hide his smile with a bite of his pie.

"No, I can buy my own dinner. Thing is, if you were to buy it for me, I'd have to make it up to you somehow."

"You know, business has been going really well this week, I can pay."

"At this rate I'm going to have to spend my money on an exercise program if you keep getting me to eat so much sugar. "

"Hey, all you've gotta' do is say no, I will gladly eat your pie for you."

"No, it's paid for anyway," Monroe smirked, taking another bite of his pie.

It only took them a few minutes to finish off their pie, Nick taking the check to go pay up at the front counter. Monroe went to use the restroom while Nick paid, attempting to fix his messy hair with no luck before walking out to find Nick standing by his car.

"So what did you think of this place?" Nick asked, his hands shoved into the pockets of his coat as the light dusting of snow that was beginning to fall found its way into his black hair.

"It was really good. Thank you for paying, by the way."

"No problem. Besides, now you owe me one."

"Yeah, we'll have to figure out how I'm going to repay you for that."

"Yes we will. Hey, do you want to come back to my shop? Grab a coffee real quick?"

"Ah, I wish I could, but I have to go in to work at four in the morning, so I really should get going."

"Okay, I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah, sometime soon hopefully."

"Alright, bye Monroe," Nick said with a smile as he climbed into his car.

"Yeah, bye Nick." Monroe made his way across the snow dusted parking lot towards his car, his coat pulled snugly across his torso as he smiled through the cold that was biting at his exposed skin.


	3. Chapter 3

**This took me longer to finish than I thought it would, but it's here now. This chapter does live up to the rating, so I warn you of that now. I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think. :)**

Monroe glanced at the clock on the wall for the hundredth time that morning, wishing that time would do more than just slowly crawl by. He was trying to pay attention to the papers sitting on the desk in front of him, but his mind kept straying to other things. He tapped his pen on the edge of his desk, thinking as he stared off into space. Finally giving up on actually accomplishing anything important, Monroe stood up from his desk and left his office, deciding to take a walk around the hotel just to check up on things and clear his mind.

It was only eight in the morning, meaning he had only been in for four hours, but it felt like it had years and he still had a full day of work to go. After covering the halls of the first floor, stopping to talk to a couple of employees along the way, Monroe grabbed a granola bar from the small snack bar next to the front counter before retiring to his office again. Once inside he sat down and propped his feet up on his desk, turned on the small TV in the corner and ate his granola bar as he ignored the work that he needed to get done. He stayed like that for a good ten minutes before there was a knock on the door to his office, one of the managers stepping inside.

"Sir, there's somebody here to see you. Do want me to just send him in? He says he's a friend of yours."

"Yeah, just send him back." Monroe tossed his granola bar wrapper into the trash, trying to think of who would come to visit him at work.

He only had a few seconds to think about it, turning around from the trash can to find a thin guy with black hair standing in the doorway of his office, a paper travel mug in his hand as the snow was still melting on his shoulders.

"Hey, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Nick asked with a sideways smile.

"No, not at all. I'm actually glad that you decided to come visit, I was honestly getting bored."

"Good, because I might feel kind of bad for keeping you from your work. I brought you that coffee that you didn't have time to get last night." Nick walked into Monroe's office, the door shutting behind him as he handed the coffee over, leaning back against the other's desk.

"Thank you, today has been really slow so I could use some caffeine to make me forget how time works." Monroe took the cup with an appreciative smile, taking a drink of the coffee that had managed to stay pretty warm from Nick's coffee shop to the hotel.

"You sure are a pretty important guy in this business, you get your own office and you can just kick back and watch TV. Do you want to trade jobs? Because I actually work my ass off all day."

"I'm just having an easy day, it's not always like this, smart ass. Why aren't you at work, anyway?"

"You better watch yourself, or the next time you want a caffeinated drink I just might poison it. To answer your question though, I don't open up my shop for another hour."

"And I bet they're just lining up to get in there." The sarcasm was heavy in Monroe's voice, as he sat down facing Nick.

"Well, I'm not there, for all I know they just might be. So, for exactly how long will you be tied up here?"

"I am stuck here until the night shift manager comes in at eight o'clock. Why, are you trying to buy me dinner again?" Monroe placed his coffee on his desk, gathering all the forms together that he still really needed to fill out but kept putting off.

"No, but I was thinking maybe we could get lunch?"

"I'd love to."

"Great, where do you want to go?"

"I don't have time to go anywhere."

"What? But you just said you could."

"No, I said that I'd love to, not that I can. There's a big difference, pay attention next time."

"Well…would you have time to come out to my shop?"

"Yeah, I think I could fit that in, but I'd rather have something more than a scone for lunch. "

"No, I mean, I'll make something. Close up shop for lunch and we can eat there."

"How do I know you're not a terrible cook?" Monroe questioned, raising an eyebrow as he watched Nick mess with the can of pens on his desk.

"You don't. But I make good brownies don't I?"

"You do make great brownies, I have to give you that one."

"So what do you say? Want a homemade lunch that you can eat in a building that you'll have all to yourself besides me?"

"Yeah, that sounds great."

"Alright, I had better get going so I can open up the shop on time for all those people lining up outside," Nick started, moving towards the door as he flashed a huge smile at Monroe over his shoulder. "I'll call you when everything's ready."

"Work hard." Monroe had a pen in his hand and its cap between his teeth as he finally started on the papers that had been waiting on his attention all morning.

"Hey Nick. You ready for me?" Monroe pulled his phone out of his pocket, as he tried to look through the shades into the building sitting in front of him.

"Yeah, how fast can you get here?"

"Two seconds."

"Oh, so you're teleporting?"

"No, I'm standing outside your shop. Now come unlock the door already, it's freezing out here."

Monroe could hear footsteps on the other end of the line before the door pulled open in front of him, the warm smell of coffee and brownies wafting out to meet him. Nick smiled at the sight of him standing there covered in snow, shoving his phone back into his pocket as we stepped back to let the other inside.

Monroe followed Nick to a table in the middle of the room which was already set with a meal for the both of them. There were strips of grilled chicken sitting on two different plates, covered in chopped peppers and guacamole.

"Wow."

"You can eat all of it, right?"

"Well…most brands of guacamole are made with sweeteners, but yeah, I can still eat it."

"No worries there, I made it myself."

"Good lord you're my best friend now," Monroe smiled, taking a seat at the table as Nick sat down across from him.

Monroe took a bite of the lunch that it must have taken Nick a long time to prepare, his mouth watering at the taste. The chicken was cooked to perfection, the taste of the guacamole and the peppers mixing together just right.

"Nick, this is really good."

"Thanks. I haven't made anything like this in a long time. When you live alone it's so much easier to just put something frozen in the microwave or get a pizza."

"That's true, but it also makes it easier to stick to a diet, rather than sitting in a coffee shop with tempting things sitting just behind the counter over there." Nick smiled at that statement, staring over at his workstation for a moment before returning his attention to his lunch.

"So you have to go back to work after this and keep working until eight tonight?"

"Yeah, which sucks for a work shift. I don't have to go in all that much, but when I do it's all day."

"Wow, all day to sit at a desk and watch TV and maybe fill out some papers. God, must be hard."

"If you don't stop saying that then I'm going to drag you into work with me on a hard day."

"Why don't you just come in here on a normal day? I run this place by myself, Monroe," Nick pointed out, the both of them already halfway done with their lunches.

"Alright, I guess I don't give you enough credit for that one. But I have to keep in mind that I _own a hotel_."

"Fine, you've got me on that one. But until I actually witness you working your ass off like I do every day, I'm going to keep teasing you about it."

"It's a good thing that you can cook, because you're really annoying."

After the both of them were quiet for awhile, finishing their lunch, a timer went off back in the kitchen and Nick got up from the table to go take care of whatever was back there.

"Really? You have me over for lunch and you're still making sweets?"

"Hey, as long as it's a work day, I don't ever get a break if I want to make money," Nick explained as he disappeared into the kitchen.

Monroe rolled his eyes at that, taking the last few bites of his lunch in near silence before something smashed back in the kitchen and Nick muttered "Damn it."

"Nick?" Monroe pushed back from the table, walking behind the counter and into the kitchen to find Nick standing in the middle of the back room, a glass bowl smashed at his feet with blueberry muffin batter all over his jeans and on the floor.

"I don't suppose you ever drop bowls full of batter when you're at work, huh?"

"I never have before, anyway."

"You can go on and head back to work, I've got to clean this up and make another batch."

"No, I've got plenty of time before I have to be back at the hotel, let me help you."

"Well…if you must, the faucet on the sink detaches so run warm water and we can just use that to wash this all down the drain." Nick gestured towards the sink across the room, bending down to pick up the pieces of the shattered glass bowl.

Monroe walked over to the stainless steel sink along the back wall, pulling out the extendable faucet that resembled a removable shower head, before turning back around. Nick had his back to him, locating all of the pieces of glass and moving them out of the mess, his jeans covered in sticky white batter. Monroe aimed the faucet head towards the mess that Nick had made, pressing down on the button that caused water to wash over the other.

"Hey, that isn't what that was for," Nick complained, but he was smiling as water dripped off of his now soaking wet jeans.

"Well, you didn't tell me not to." Monroe smiled before aiming the spray of water down at the floor, taking a moment to wash the batter down the drain in the center of the room.

"Thank you so much for soaking my jeans, now I can't go outside until they dry."

"Hey, you're the one who let me help clean up." Monroe smirked, spraying Nick's jeans one last time for good measure before putting the faucet head back in its place.

"I hate you so much right now." Nick smiled as he grabbed what was left of the glass bowl and tossed of all the pieces into the trash.

"How did you manage to get batter on your face?" Monroe had walked closer to Nick, noticing a spot of the muffin batter on his cheek.

"Probably because I'm just that good at dropping things." Nick was staring at his feet as he gave an involuntary shiver thanks to his wet jeans.

Monroe gently pushed Nick's head back up, brushing his thumb across his cheek to get the batter off of his face. He stared into Nick's misty blue eyes for a moment, remembering the beautiful way that they looked when he smiled, before leaning in and pressing his lips to the other's.

The kiss was slow, soft and sweet. When they pulled apart, there was a look of surprise in Nick's eyes, like he wasn't sure what to think of the fact that Monroe had just kissed him.

"You're not going to freak out on me, are you?" Monroe questioned sarcastically.

In response, Nick grabbed onto Monroe's shirt and pulled him down because of their slight height difference, pushing into a longer, more passionate kiss. Monroe wrapped his arms around Nick's waist, pulling him closer so that they were right up against each other, as Nick let go of his shirt and instead wrapped his fingers in Monroe's messy brown hair.

Once they pulled out of the kiss, Monroe kept one arm locked around Nick's waist and trailed his hand down the other's chest, stopping at the button of his soaking wet jeans, Nick's already hard cock pressed against the denim.

"Monroe," Nick muttered under his breath, pushing up into the other's hand.

Monroe pressed his lips to Nick's throat, turning him around to push him up against the counter as he worked on undoing his jeans, a faint moan escaping Nick's throat.

"I feel violated, being shoved against the counter in my own shop." Nick smirked before biting down on his lip to keep from groaning as Monroe undid his jeans, pushing them down to let them fall around his ankles.

Monroe took in a sharp breath at the sight of Nick in nothing but a shirt and his black boxer-briefs, the fabric outlining his hard cock which was already leaving a spot of pre-come. He just stood there for a second before pushing into another passionate kiss, as Nick starting unbuttoning his shirt.

After a moment of the both of them panting into the other's mouth, their tongues trying to twist into each other, Monroe pulled back from the kiss and took a moment to catch his breath before dropping to his knees. He slowly pulled Nick's underwear down, revealing his hard cock which was leaking plenty of pre-come already.

"Man, all I did was kiss you."

If Nick had intended on replying coherently to that statement, it was lost in his sharp cry of "Yeah, Monroe!" when Monroe grabbed the base of his cock and sealed his lips around the head. He paid special attention to the head for a moment before moving his mouth farther down, taking in more of Nick's cock as he started pumping it, bringing his hand up to meet his mouth.

It didn't take long before Nick was moaning as Monroe picked up the pace, his fingers wound tightly in Monroe's hair as he seemed to forget everything in the world except for the feel of Monroe's mouth on his cock and the other's name. With his only warning being a gasp of "Monroe!" Nick came hard down Monroe's throat as he bucked his hips forward, the other swallowing down every last drop of his come.

When Monroe finally pulled back, Nick collapsed onto his knees in front of him, moving to lie down on his back on the cold floor as he tried to catch his breath, wearing nothing but his T-shirt which was showing signs of age. They stayed like that for a while, Nick sprawled out on the cold tile floor and Monroe's side leaned onto the counter, before Nick pulled his underwear and jeans back up, moving to sit next to Monroe as he noticed the wet patch on his jeans.

"You came in your pants just from blowing me? God, that's hot." Nick brushed Monroe's hair off of his forehead, placing a light kiss on his cheek. "Please don't say that you have to go back to work."

"I wish I didn't, but I really do." Monroe started buttoning his shirt back up with a sigh.

"Come on, just call in and say you got a flat tire or something. We can go back to my apartment and shower, I mean you can't exactly go back to work when you just came in your pants."

"Okay, but I really can't be gone for that much longer, Nick. I might own the place but I'll still have to answer to corporate if I'm gone from work all day."

Nick and Monroe cleared the table where they had been eating lunch, placing the dishes in the sink and grabbing their coats before heading out into the snow that had picked up again as Nick locked up and then led Monroe back to the parking lot.

"Come on, how long does it take to unlock a car door?" Monroe shivered from the cold as he stood by the passenger door of Nick's car, waiting for him to unlock it on the other side.

"Shut up, the lock on this thing just gets screwed to hell in the winter. It really isn't all that cold out though, it's an improvement from how cold last week was."

"Oh yeah, that's easy for you to say, you don't have come freezing in your pants."

Nick smirked at that, finally getting the car unlocked as the both of them got inside, Nick turning the heat all the way up before pulling out onto the road, really glad that he didn't live too far away from his shop.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry this took me so long to finish, but here it is! Let me know what you think, I hope you like it. =]**

Monroe pressed Nick back against the cool tiles of the shower, the warm water pouring over their skin as Monroe kissed Nick's neck, Nick moaning and moving to kiss Monroe full on the lips. After a moment of kissing like they could never get enough of each other, Nick tangled his fingers into Monroe's hair and pushed him against the glass door of the shower, rutting against his leg as he groaned, desperate for more.

Not even bothering to actually clean up, the two of them stumbled out of the shower and grabbed a towel, barely bothering to dry off before Nick dragged Monroe into his bedroom, pressing the other down onto his comfortable bed. Nick smiled down at Monroe, pressing his hard cock against the other's as Monroe gasped at the contact.

"Mm, like that?" Nick smirked, rolling his hips forward to keep the contact against Monroe.

Monroe grabbed Nick's arms and flipped him over, rolling his hips forward which got the same reaction from Nick that it had from him. Monroe pressed his lips to Nick's neck, nipping at the hinge of his jaw as he worked his hands down the warmth of Nick's damp skin.

"Monroe. God, Monroe, please." Nick gasped, pressing his body up into the other's touch.

Monroe turned Nick over onto his stomach, placing rough kisses down the length of his spine as the other held the sheets of the bed in a death grip. Monroe continued trailing his hands over every inch of Nick's skin before freezing, really thinking about what they were doing.

"Nick." Monroe paused and took a deep breath before continuing, noticing the way that Nick tensed up. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Nearly three hours after Monroe had arrived at Nick's coffee shop for lunch, the two of them were wrapped in the warm sheets on the bed in Nick's apartment, the only light being that which was filtering in through the curtains that were pulled across the window as the two of them drifted in and out of a truly exhausted sleep. Not really sure if he was dreaming or not, Monroe took in a deep breath as he tried to memorize the smell of Nick's apartment. The recently painted walls still gave off a scent, a strong smell of coffee filled every room, and then there was the smell that just screamed _'Nick' _as he breathed it in, and he couldn't help but smile.

Monroe could feel Nick's chest rising and falling with silent breaths as he slept soundly on the bed next to him, his soft black hair a complete mess from not being combed after getting wet in the shower, his skin still ghosted in a faint layer of sweat. Monroe moved closer to the other, letting his arm fall over his waist as he stroked his thumb back and forth on the other's skin.

Nick stirred at Monroe's touch, his misty blue eyes slowly pulling open as he leaned onto the other's chest. Their breathing fell into a quiet, matched rhythm for a moment before Nick broke the peaceful quiet as he muttered, "How did I get lucky enough for this?"

"It's more like the other way around, I don't know what I ever did to deserve this." Monroe pressed a light kiss onto the skin on Nick's sweat covered neck.

"But you own a hotel, I'm sure you know tons of great people with plenty of money that have great jobs, actual houses rather than apartments, knowledge of stuff such as which fork gets used first, which we've covered before. You could be like this, in bed after great sex, with any last one of them. So why me?"

"Because, having money and owning a house and knowing which fork to use when is just boring. You own a small coffee shop, you make the best brownies in existence, and you're a great cook. You aren't the kind of person that I'm used to meeting every day."

"Well…then here's to us, being something different in the other's life for a change. Hopefully this will last."

"As long as you never learn which fork is for the salad, I think I'll be able to stand you. So we've definitely got some time." Monroe pulled Nick closer to him so that they were skin against skin, and placed a faint kiss on his lips before staring into the other's tired eyes.

"Alright, I will suppress the urge to Google it every day until I remember it." Nick let his eyes fall shut, his head rested on Monroe's upper arm as his breath rolled over the other's skin.

Monroe kept still in that position, the weight of Nick's upper body making his arm go numb, as his eyes followed specks of dirt falling through the rays of sunlight that were finding their way past the curtain. Nick's one bedroom apartment was nice and quiet other than the sound of a clock ticking on the wall, and every once in a wall you could hear somebody turn on the water in the apartment next door. Nick's breathing fell into a light pattern after a moment, and all thoughts of needing to return to work left Monroe's mind as a smile spread across his face and he let Nick sleep in his arms.

"You have a fish. I should have known you'd have a fish." Nick was standing in front of Monroe's dresser, watching a little goldfish swim around in its bowl.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Monroe turned around from where he had been fixing the sheets on his bed, raising an eyebrow at Nick.

"You're just the kind of guy that wouldn't have a dog because it would ruin the expensive carpet. Does it have a name?"

"Bubby. And before you laugh, my four-year-old nephew named him."

"No, I like it, that's a good name for a fish."

"So what's the verdict on the house, you like it?"

"I love it." Nick pulled back from the fish, shoving his hands into the pockets on his coat as he took a step deeper into Monroe's bedroom, looking around as he took everything in.

"It's not much, it's old and needs some work done, but it's not all that bad."

"Are you kidding? It's perfect, what could it need done?"

"The carpet in the living room is wearing thin, the faucet on the first floor bathroom needs replaced, and not to mention it gets lonely. I'm one guy in living alone in this huge house on four whole acres of land. I mean, I wouldn't have picked it out for myself, but it belonged to my parents."

"Then it's a good thing you won't have to be alone anymore."


	5. Chapter 5

Monroe was back at work bright and early the next morning, wanting to make up for missing nearly half a shift the day before. He stopped his car in one of the last places in the parking lot, taking his time to walk inside as he enjoyed the warmer than usual November morning. He had left his coat unbuttoned because there wasn't any biting wind to block out, and he had a bag full of paperwork slung over his shoulder as he walked in through the back door, holding a small paper back that contained the blueberry scone that Nick had convinced him to take.

The building was quiet for the most part this early in the morning, most of the guests still sleeping in their rooms as the machinery in the basement that kept the hotel standing made itself known with noises that were normally drown out by people walking around and talking. Monroe made his way to his office, placing his bag in a chair in the corner before sitting down at his desk, taking off small pieces of the scone as he worked on the paperwork that he should have already finished the day before.

He let his mind wander while he worked, trying to decide if it had honestly been a good idea to leave Nick alone at his house. The other had promised to lock up when he left for work, kissing Monroe goodbye at four thirty in the morning before he left. Although when he checked the bedroom one last time, Nick was sound asleep in the middle of the bed. Monroe shook his head at himself, mentally reassuring himself that Nick would remember to lock the doors.

; ;

Nick stretched his arms above his head as he woke up, forgetting just where he was for a moment. When he remembered that he had stayed at Monroe's overnight, curling up into the other's warmth all night, he couldn't help but smile at the thought. He pushed back the covers of the king size bed, swinging his legs off of the edge. He was still wearing the shirt that he had been wearing the day before, along with a pair of sweatpants that belonged to Monroe.

Nick made his way downstairs to the kitchen, looking for the spots where the carpet was wearing thin as Monroe had claimed. He got a glass of water before walking out onto the back porch, loving the feel of warm concrete under his bare feet. He stood like that for a good five minutes, finishing his water as he looked out on the field behind Monroe's big backyard, just letting his mind wander to different subjects. A smile suddenly spread across his face before he turned back into the house to find where Monroe kept his phone.

"It feels weird to be at work and see my home phone number on caller ID."

"Maybe you have an evil twin that you never knew about," Nick pointed out.

"Well, I guess that's possible. What's up, Nick, you get lost in my house or something?"

"No, I am finding my way around pretty well, surprisingly. But I was wondering, I don't suppose you'd let me steal you from work again, would you?"

"Not this time, Nick. I've got to put in the hours or I'll be job hunting."

"That's what I figured you'd say. But what do you say to dinner after you get off work?"

"Depends, where do you want to go?"

"I chose last time, you get to pick."

"Okay, well…" Monroe tried to think of a good place to eat that wasn't too far out for either of them as he ran a pen through his fingers. "There's a place right next to the hotel where we could eat, if you're okay with a fancier atmosphere."

"Sounds great. What time do you want to meet?"

"I get off at eight thirty, so does eight forty-five work?"

"That works. I close up the shop at eight, so I can be there by eight forty-five." Nick took the last drink of his ice water before setting the empty glass in the sink.

"Alright, then I'll see you then."

"Yeah, see you then."

; ;

Monroe finished up at work about ten minutes before he was supposed to get off, checking everything over before the nightshift manager came in five minutes early and he was able to leave. He left his car in the parking lot and then walked to the restaurant to get a table before they all filled up. The lady at the front door led Monroe to a table in the back of the building where there weren't very many people and it was much quieter. He was just about to pull his phone out of his pocket and call Nick when somebody slid into the seat across from him.

"Monroe, it's been forever!"

"Hey, Tom. How've you been?" Monroe looked up to see that an older guy he had worked with years before was sitting in front of him.

"Pretty good, how about yourself?" Tom had a perfectly straight and white smile that had probably cost him thousands, which he liked to show off but keeping a smile on his face most of the time.

"I'm good." Monroe looked over his shoulder towards the door, but since there was no sign of Nick he turned back to face Tom.

"You aren't here alone, are you?"

"Actually, I-"

"Come on, you've got to come sit with everybody. A whole bunch of us are here, they'll love to see you."

Before Monroe could object, Tom had pulled him to his feet and was leading him towards the other side of the restaurant where a large table was full of upper class people he knew and got along with well enough, but they weren't exactly the kind of people he'd want to hang around all the time. Tom motioned for Monroe to sit down as everybody greeted him with blinding white smiles, and that's when Monroe noticed one of his closest friends, Rosalee, sitting across the table from him.

"Hey, Monroe." Rosalee gave Monroe the normal smile that made her stand out from all the other people in the group with teeth that nearly shone.

"Rosalee, I wouldn't expect to see you here." Monroe immediately returned the smile, straightening the collar of his shirt.

"Oh, well, I was walking by when Tom and Chelsea were coming in, and they asked me to come have dinner with them. I was coming to see you, actually." Rosalee pushed her long brown hair behind her ear, the dim lights catching in her silver earrings.

"Well that happened on its own. Was there anything you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh, not really. I was just going to see if you wanted to go get dinner together. But I guess I didn't even have to ask."

"No, I guess not."

"So, Monroe, how have things been at the Marriot?" John, a young guy with dark hair who was sitting next to Rosalee, leaned across the table towards Monroe to catch his attention.

"Pretty good. Haven't had the FBI in there lately, if that's what you're asking." Monroe smiled, turning in his seat to face the entrance to the building, just barely noticing a guy with jet black hair pushing past a few people to get out the door. "Excuse me, guys," Monroe just barely bothered to mutter as he got up and quickly made his way outside.

"Nick!" Monroe ran after Nick as the other turned a corner down the sidewalk towards the parking lot that was back behind the building. "Dude, are you alright?" Monroe finally caught up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Nick tried to meet Monroe's gaze, but his eyes kept darting to look at everything but the other's eyes, as he shoved his hands into his pockets and tried not to sigh.

"Come on, let's go back inside. We can probably still get a table."

"No." Nick hardly had the nerve to utter that word, and Monroe just barely heard it spoken.

"What?"

"I'm not going back in there."

"Why not?"

"You…you were having such a great time with your friends. I don't want to intrude on that." Nick just went with the first thing that came to mind and tried to make it sound convincing, just wanting Monroe to go back inside so that he could go home.

"Nick, I was just waiting for you and they jumped on me. Not literally, of course, but I was dragged to their table."

"Well you sure didn't look like you hated it."

"They are friends of mine, but Nick, this is supposed to be our night, we're supposed to just have dinner together. It's not like we have to sit with them or anything."

"It's just…don't you think we're taking things too fast? We just met like two days ago. Maybe…we should slow down a bit, spend some time apart."

"Are you breaking up with me before we've even gotten a chance to date?" Monroe crossed his arms over his chest, his chest tightening at the thought of losing Nick.

"No, Monroe, I don't want to break up with you, I don't. I…I just don't fit in here, okay? I thought I could, but I can't. I own a no-name coffee shop in the middle of Oregon, I don't even have a house, and I don't even have fifty bucks in the bank. I don't own a home, I don't wear expensive name brands, I don't have thousands of dollars to blow, and this just isn't my life. I wish I could manage it, but I can't. I'm sorry."

"Nick, this isn't about money, I don't give a damn about how much money you have."

"I know it's not, but…I just don't belong here. I'm not one of you."

Nick didn't even wait for a response before turning on his heel and continuing on towards the parking lot, wiping his watering eyes on the back of his hand. He wanted to go back inside and have dinner with Monroe, then either kiss him goodbye or spend the night with him again, but he knew that he was getting in way over his head and he needed to back up before he got in too deep. He took in a deep breath to calm himself down before climbing into his car, taking great notice of the fact that Monroe was gone when he drove past the sidewalk.


	6. Chapter 6

**I thought this was going to end up being a lot longer than it is, but here it is! Please leave a review to let me know what you think, it would make my day. =]**

"So what did he say?"

"Rosalee, I've already told you." Monroe sighed, leaning forward onto the granite top island in his kitchen.

"You've given me a general idea, but you haven't told me in his words."

"He said that he doesn't fit in here."

"Well neither do I, really."

"Of course you do."

"No, I'm not the rich owner of some important business like you or most of your friends. But you're a good friend, so it works most of the time." Rosalee smiled, taking a drink from the glass of water that she was holding. "What did you tell him, anyway?"

"That I didn't give a damn about money."

"That's it?"

"Basically."

"Monroe…"

"Oh god, what did I do wrong this time?"

"You should have given him something deeper than that. He might honestly feel like an oddball with you, but also he's gonna be afraid that you don't really like him and you'll leave him for somebody better. You should have assured him that he's important to you."

"Rosaleee, always with the good advice after it's too late for me to use it."

"Well, at least you know better now. It's getting late, I should head out." Rosalee set her empty glass in Monroe's stainless steel sink, brushing off her jeans as she walked towards the door.

"Sorry to keep you so late. Are you sure you don't want to just spend the night here?"

"I'm fine, but thanks. Oh, and, Monroe?" Rosalee turned around in the doorway of the kitchen, her hair falling out from behind her ear.

"Yes?"

"Good luck with everything."

"Thanks, Rosalee. I'm gonna' need it."

; ;

"_Nick." Monroe's voice sounded worn from use, just barely heard by the other thanks to his heavy breathing. _

"_Yeah, you like that?" Nick leaned in so that his lips were only inches away from Monroe's ear, absentmindedly running his fingers across the other's skin just under the waistline of his jeans. They were both still fully clothed and sprawled out on Nick's bed, while Nick leaned over Monroe._

"_Yeah, right there, come on." _

_Nick pushed himself up onto his elbows, slowly unbuttoning Monroe's shirt before pushing the soft fabric out of the way, placing kisses across the warm skin of the other's chest. Monroe moaned, loving the feel of Nick's lips on his overheated skin. _

"_Nick…I need…"_

"_What, Monroe? Tell me what you need."_

"_You. Nick, I need you. I can't do this without you, how could you just leave me like that?"_

Nick sat straight up in bed, the words 'I'm sorry' still on his tongue as his heart thumped rhythmically in his chest. It took him a moment, but he finally realized that it had all been in his head, that he was actually alone in his apartment at three in the morning. He tore his fingers through his hair and took a few deep breaths before settling back onto the bed. He was perfectly comfortable, wrapped in his soft comforter with his head rested on one of the pillows that was a perfect balance between soft and firm, but he couldn't get back to sleep for his life.

His mind kept wandering back to what he had said to Monroe, and whether or not he had made a good decision. He was afraid that he wasn't good enough for Monroe, but he did still want to be with him. Whenever he managed to get his thoughts away from that, they automatically went to the pair of jeans in his living room that belonged to Monroe. The first night when they had come to the apartment, Monroe ended up changing into a pair of pants that he had in his car and Nick kept the dirty ones to wash them. They might have been washed, but they still belonged to the other and they were currently folded up on top of his dryer.

"What have I done?" Nick spread out across his bed to where Monroe had laid next to him the day before, just imagining that he could still feel the other's hands on his skin, dragging noises out of his mouth that he never even knew he could make.

Nick bit down on his lip as he rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling, a million different emotions running through his head at the same time. He should have told Monroe what was really bothering him, but he didn't want to look so dependent on the other. His eyes landed on the neon numbers of his alarm clock that told him it was 3:24 in the morning, and he let out a long sigh because he needed sleep to get up and go to work a few hours later, but he couldn't manage to sleep any longer than he already had.

; ;

The snow was coming down harder than it had in years, so hard in fact that when Nick tried to close up his shop and go home a couple hours early, he couldn't even see his way out to the parking lot. There weren't very many people out in the horrible storm, and those who were unfortunate enough to get stuck out in the snow were only interested in getting to where they were going, not stopping in for coffee.

So Nick was spending his time back in the kitchen, doing inventory and writing a shopping list that he was only being halfway serious about, adding in things that he needed at home as well. Normally he kept home shopping and work shopping separate, so that he didn't have to stress out about buying so much at once and making sure he remembered everything.

The bell attached to the front door sounded, accompanied with the noise of the worst snow blizzard in the last ten years, and Nick put his pen down and closed the fridge that he had open, walking into the front room to see who had come into the shop.

"Did you get run in by the snow?" The snow storm was so bad that Nick figured he might as well joke with it, putting on a smile for the customer.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad." The guy was pretty tall, at least four inches taller than Nick, and he appeared to be a few years older. He had thin, dark hair, and his hands were shoved into the pockets of his coat.

"So what can I get for you?"

"Give me all the money in the register."

"What?" Nick refused to believe what he had heard, slowly taking a step back from the counter and farther away from the man.

"You heard me. Now!"

"I-"

Before Nick could even think of what to do, the guy had moved behind the counter, grabbing onto his shirt and throwing him back into the wall. Nick groaned at the feeling of his skull meeting the wall, and he didn't even have time to react before the stranger threw a punch, cleanly breaking his nose as the familiar feeling of thick, warm blood ran across his lips. Spitting blood out of his mouth, Nick bolted back to the kitchen in an attempt to find the cell phone that he had been using as a calculator a few minutes before.

The phone was sitting on his main work station in the middle of the kitchen, right there almost within his reach before he was yanked back and pushed to the ground, a perfectly aimed kick finding its mark on his side. Nick kicked aimlessly at the guy, locking one of his knees and causing him to fall over as the other scrambled to his feet. Nick had just barely grabbed his phone and dialed 911 before he felt hands around his neck, panicking and dropping his phone.

A moment later Nick was on his back with the guy leaning over him, slowly cutting off the other's oxygen as Nick tried to fight back. Just when Nick was on the verge of passing out from lack of oxygen, the guy stepped back, moving to look through the drawers and cabinets lining the walls.

"Where the hell do you keep the money?" The guy stormed back over to Nick, planting a kick in his side when he didn't respond right away. "Tell me!"

"Under the front corner," Nick managed to groan as he spit out another mouthful of blood.

Once the other man left the room, Nick slowly got to his feet and walked around in search of the phone that he had dropped, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his nose and his side. He didn't even manage to find the phone before somebody behind him said "Sir?" He turned around, thankful and relieved to see a police officer.

"Thank god," he muttered through blood stained teeth.

; ;

A security camera used to survey traffic caught a glimpse of the man who had robbed and beaten Nick, as he left the shop just before the police officer showed up. The snow storm had died down enough for the cops to get a good still of the man's face, as he had walked off straight towards the camera. All evidence that the man had left behind had been collected, and after being checked over by a paramedic for serious injuries, Nick was allowed to go home and rest after taking a strong pain killer.

All of the lights in the apartment were off, and other than the sound of the heat coming on and Nick's breathing, all was silent. Nick had been trying for hours to sleep, but he couldn't. Every time he closed his eyes he thought he felt his nose bleeding or hands wrapped tightly around his neck. So instead of getting some sleep, he was lying completely awake in bed, jumping at every little noise.

The experience could have been much worse than it turned out to be, considering that the man never pulled any weapons and Nick was able to walk away with a bruise on his side and a broken nose that the paramedic had reset for him. Even though he knew that he was lucky, that he had gotten off pretty easy with the guy, Nick was still scared. He had to lie on his back or otherwise he felt like something would get him from behind, and he was focused on the fact that the guy was still out there somewhere.

Finally, after spending four unsuccessful hours trying to sleep, Nick flipped on the table lamp next to his bed and sat up, running his fingers through his hair with a sigh. His cell phone caught his eye, and he mentally fought with himself for a moment before finally leaning over to pick it up. He quickly dialed a number and then settled back down on his back, waiting for a moment as he listened to the repetitive rings of the phone before someone finally picked up on the other end.

"Monroe?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry that this took so long, I just haven't been motivated to write very much at all lately. It's finally done, though, so let me know what you think. Reviews make my day. =]**

"It's three in the morning." Monroe groaned as he glanced at the clock, doing a poor job at trying not to sound upset.

"I know."

"You just stormed off the other night, and now you're calling me at an ungodly hour in the morning?"

"Monroe-"

"What, Nick, what? What could possibly be so important that it couldn't wait for a few more hours?"

"I…I can't sleep."

"Sorry dude, but that really isn't any reason for you to keep me from sleeping."

"I got robbed, Monroe."

"What?" In about two seconds flat, the aggravation of being called at three in the morning had completely dissipated for Monroe.

"A guy came into my shop earlier, and he seemed normal at first but then he beat me up and robbed me."

"Nick…oh my god."

"The cops haven't caught him yet, he's still out there, and I can't sleep because every time I close my eyes I can feel his hands around my throat."

"The guy _choked _you?"

"Yeah, for a moment."

"So…Nick, why are you calling _me?_"

"You're the first person I could think to call."

"Did you just want to talk?"

"Actually, I…I know that this is probably really stupid of me to ask, considering what I said, but…I don't want to be alone."

"Nick…" Monroe sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he listened to the other breathe through the phone.

"Yeah, that was stupid, never mind."

"No, I understand, it's just…"

"You weren't expecting me to call, especially not like this."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry. For calling at this hour and for what I said the other night."

"It's fine, Nick."

"No, Monroe, it isn't."

"Okay, you're right, it isn't, but saying it out loud doesn't help anything."

"I just at least wanted you to know that I'm sorry."

"Well, now I do."

"Monroe? Do you think you could get a room for me at the hotel on such short notice? Just…there'd be better security there than in my apartment."

"Nick, I'm sure that your apartment is perfectly secure and you'll be fine there."

"I know, it's just…I'd feel better sleeping there."

"Alright, then yeah, I can definitely get you a room. You don't have to worry about anything, just get there and the room should be ready for you."

"Thank you so much, Monroe."

"No thanks needed, we've got a surprising amount of empty rooms for a weekend.

; ;

Nick pulled his coat tighter around his torso as he pushed through the front door of the Marriot, his overnight bag threatening to slip off of his shoulder. The lady at the front desk was nice, giving him the keys to his room with a smile and a remark about the weather. He pocketed the key card and then took the stairs up to the fifth floor, not wanting to be confined in an elevator.

When Nick got down the hall to his room, he was surprised to find Monroe leaning against the wall, waiting for him. Monroe's hair was messed up like he hadn't combed it when he got out of bed, and he was wearing a dark old pair of jeans and a wrinkled T-shirt.

"What are you doing here? You should be asleep at home."

"Well, you woke me up, and when I couldn't fall back to sleep I figured I might as well come make sure that you're okay."

"I'm fine…I guess."

"I'm really sorry that this happened to you, dude."

"Don't be, it's not like it was your fault."

"If I hadn't suggested such a fancy restaurant for dinner that night, I wouldn't have been ambushed by people that I know, and we could have just had dinner and you could have spent the night at my place, and I would have probably been at the shop with you earlier and you'd be okay. So yeah, I'm really sorry that this happened to you."

"Don't you dare blame yourself for this." Nick pushed past Monroe, sliding his key card into the slot on the door before pushing it open into his room. "Monroe? What did you…"

"Well, if you're only going to stay one night, you might as well have a nice room."

"Monroe, I can't afford this room, even for a night." Nick turned around to face Monroe, surprised that the other would assume he had the money to pay for one of the biggest and nicest suites in the whole building.

"No worries, Nick, it's on me. Come on, get inside, if we keep standing out in the hallway talking we're going to wake people up."

"You don't have to do this for me, I'm fine with a normal room."

"It's no big deal, I get a major discount on rooms anyway," Monroe insisted, turning all of the locks on the door. "So, what did the guy do to you?"

Nick tossed his overnight bag onto the king size bed before stripping his thin T-shirt off of his back and turning to show Monroe the bruises along his side. Monroe sucked in the breath at the sight, gently running his fingers across the darkened skin as Nick flinched.

"Damn, Nick."

"There are marks on my neck from when he choked me, and he broke my nose."

"What did you do?"

"Tried to get away and call 911."

"I now understand why you'd want to sleep here. You don't care if I stay here, do you? Just…to make sure you're okay?"

"No, I guess not. I'm just gonna go change into something more comfortable to sleep in." Nick didn't bother to find his sweatpants and old T-shirt, just grabbed his bag and walked into the bathroom, using his foot to push the door shut behind him.

Nick slipped on an old T-shirt that he hadn't worn in awhile, but it smelled like his apartment and managed to comfort him a little bit as he slipped out of his shoes. As he slipped his jeans down off of his legs, the denim scraped across a sensitive spot on his thigh, and after he got his jeans off he stopped for a moment to make sure nothing was wrong in that spot. He couldn't help but give a half smile when he realized that it was a bite mark. A bite mark that Monroe had left there, to be exact.

That first day when Monroe and Nick had gone back to Nick's apartment, after Nick had assured the other that he was okay with everything and even wanted it, Monroe had made a point to tease him until he couldn't think straight before finally giving him what he wanted.

"_Monroe." Nick couldn't keep himself from moaning the other's name as Monroe moved farther down his body, ending up between his legs._

"_Tell me what you need." Monroe bit down gently on the soft flesh of Nick's inner thigh, just hard enough to leave a mark, as Nick raised off of the mattress and pressed into the contact._

"_God, Monroe, please, just…just do _anything."

Nick ran his fingers over the bite mark that was still faintly purple, and before he knew what was happening, Monroe was there with his arms wrapped around Nick's waist and his lips against the others ear.

"I really bit you that hard, huh?"

"Monroe, what are you…"

"I don't even know, man. I just know that I'm sorry and I don't know how to make it up to you." Monroe pressed his lips to Nick's neck at that, leaving a trail of soft kisses across his warm skin.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for," Nick reminded him as he rested his hands on top of Monroe's.

"Maybe not, but I still feel really bad about what happened to you."

"Monroe, I'm the one that screwed this up, I was overreacting about what happened that night and _I'm _sorry, it isn't the other way around."

Monroe didn't bother to try and answer that with words, instead he turned Nick around in his grip so that they were facing each other, and stared into the shorter man's misty blue eyes before crushing their lips together. Nick took a step back, landing him against the tiles of the bathroom wall, pressing his hands to Monroe's chest as the other tangled his fingers into Nick's hair.

It only took them a few seconds to end up back in the bedroom, Monroe pushing Nick back onto the bed and climbing on top of him as he started to remove what little bit of clothing the other was still wearing. Nick helped him out, eagerly pushing his T-shirt off and then slipping out of his boxer briefs, immediately starting on unbuttoning the other's jeans as Monroe pressed his lips to the middle of Nick's chest.

"Monroe, what are we doing?" Nick could hardly even think straight, but he managed to string those words together and get them out of his mouth.

"Shh." Monroe pressed his lips to Nick's in order to silence the other, pinning Nick to the bed with one hand.

; ;

Nick was sitting on the edge of the unmade bed the next morning, Monroe relaxing in a lounge chair in the corner as they both sipped on cups of coffee. It was still pretty early in the morning, the sun just starting to rise, but the two of them had already been up for an hour, showered and ordered room service.

"So…Monroe?"

"Yeah?" Monroe's head snapped up from his coffee at the sound of Nick's voice in the otherwise quiet room.

"What happened last night? I thought we were kind of…you know, on pretty bad terms."

"I thought we were too. I don't know, I just walked to the door to make sure I had locked it, and the bathroom door was cracked open, and…I don't know. It all just kind of…happened."

"Does that mean that we're okay?"

"I guess it does."

"Okay. But...will you hear me out on something?"

"Of course."

"I was just afraid of being with you. That's why I was so upset. I'm not like you and the majority of the people in your life, and I was just afraid of not being good enough. So…even though I've said it a hundred times already, I'm sorry. For being an idiot."

"No, Nick." Monroe got out of his seat, moving to sit next to Nick on the bed. "I like that fact about you, that you're not like everyone else I know. I know that we haven't really known each other for very long, but Nick, you already mean so much to me. You might just be some guy that owns a no-name coffee shop, like you said, but you're passionate about what you do and I _love _that. This probably sounds really cheap, but I don't know what I'd do without you anymore. I couldn't sleep the night you broke it all off."

"Really?" Nick looked up into the other's eyes, searching them for any sign that he wasn't telling the truth.

"Really. Now please stop saying that you're sorry, because it's okay."

"Okay, no more apologizing." Nick smiled, leaning his head onto Monroe's shoulder. "But instead of apologies, I want to actually make it up to you."

"Nick, you don't have to-"

"No, I insist." Nick set his empty coffee mug on the bed beside him before climbing onto Monroe's lap, pressing his forehead against the others. "You're coming to my shop, and I'll make you whatever you want, all of it on me."

"I was going to say that it isn't necessary for you to do that, but, since you insisted, I guess I can't complain." Monroe let a small smile spread across his lips before placing a light kiss on Nick's cheek.

"Oh, it's most definitely necessary. I was a dick, which I always try not to be, so if I can't apologize verbally anymore, I've gotta' do it some other way."

"Nick-" Monroe didn't get to finish his sentence as Nick cut him off with a deep kiss, tangling his fingers into Monroe's soft brown hair.


	8. Chapter 8

**Really sorry to anyone that reads this for this taking so long, I've just had a _lot _going on lately and haven't had time to write. I pretty much typed this up in a day, and it's extremely short, so sorry that I kept you waiting so long for practically nothing. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, because I haven't decided if I want to skip over Monroe's business trip or write about it, but hopefully it won't take me all that long this time. Anyway, let me know what you think, reviews always make my day and it's nice to get opinions. =]**

"One last night together before you leave me. So what do you want to do?" Nick tossed his coat onto one of the lounge chairs in Monroe's living room before falling back onto the comfortable couch.

"Believe me; I wouldn't be going on this business trip if I didn't have to. But, I'd actually like to keep my job. Plus it's only for a week, I'll be back before you have time to miss me." Monroe sat down next to Nick, handing a mug of hot coffee to the other.

"Either way, that's seven whole days of waking up early, going to work all day, coming back home to my apartment and going to bed just to do the same thing again in the morning. Which is basically what I do anyway, with a lot less of you."

"Oh, you'll live. Just text me whenever you get the chance, I'll just talk to you during boring meetings."

"Instead of paying attention?"

"Of course not, I'll be texting you in _addition _to paying attention."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Nick took a careful sip of his coffee as his lips turned up in a small smile.

"The topics are probably going to be things that I already know about, I'm just required to be there anyway."

"You make really crappy coffee, you know that?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, my apologies for not making coffee for a living."

"Honestly, what did you do to this poor drink?"

Monroe rolled his eyes, standing up to walk into the kitchen where his expensive coffee maker was keeping the leftover coffee warm. He poured his mug of coffee down the sink, followed by the rest of the pot, then turned around to find Nick watching him from the doorway.

"Here," Monroe started, shoving the empty coffee pot into Nick's hands, "make some better coffee, since you know what you're doing."

Nick placed his mug of coffee on the counter by the sink, then walked over to the coffee maker. He filled it with fresh water, measured out the coffee grounds, then turned to face Monroe.

"Do you have cinnamon?"

"You're making coffee, what do you need cinnamon for?" Monroe raised an eyebrow in question, but got a glass container of cinnamon out of the cabinet for Nick.

"Because I'm making _really good_ coffee." Nick screwed off the cap of the cinnamon before carefully pouring a tiny bit of it in with the coffee grounds.

"Do you always make it with cinnamon?"

"Most of the time, yeah. I have to ask a customer first, though, because they could be allergic to cinnamon and that wouldn't be very good."

"You never asked me if I was allergic to cinnamon."

"No, I didn't. But you ate the cinnamon topping on your double-fudge macchiato on the day we met, so I knew that you weren't."

"You remember that?"

"Of course I do, I was watching to make sure that you weren't going to have a horrible allergic reaction."

"Fair enough."

The power button the coffee maker lit up to signal that the coffee was done, as Nick grabbed two new coffee mugs out of the cabinet and filled them up. Monroe took one of the mugs from Nick's hand, taking a careful sip of the hot liquid as the strong taste of coffee and hint of cinnamon filled his mouth.

"Good, isn't it?"

"Shut up."

Nick's face lit up with a smile, as he leaned back against Monroe's granite counter top and took a long drink of his coffee.

; ;

When Monroe woke up to his alarm at six o'clock the next morning, his bag was packed and waiting for him at the end of the bed. He had an hour until he had to leave for the airport, and he planned to spend it taking a quick shower and enjoying a cup of coffee with Nick. He sat up in bed and pushed back the sheets, suddenly noticing that the other side of the bed was vacant.

Monroe slipped out of bed, straightening his shirt as he made his way to the staircase, figuring that Nick had just gone home in the middle of the night. Once he got downstairs, he was surprised to see a light on in the kitchen and smell bacon frying.

"You had me kind of upset, I thought you left me in the middle of the night." Monroe stepped onto the cool tiles of the kitchen floor with bare feet, kissing Nick good morning before leaning against the counter.

"I'd never leave without telling you, that's just inconsiderate. Plus I left my side of the bed unmade, so." Nick smiled, pushing his messy bed hair off of his forehead as he turned over the strips of bacon on the stove.

"Besides bacon, obviously, what's for breakfast?"

"Sausage and egg casserole."

"But why have both sausage _and _bacon?"

"Because it's turkey bacon, it tastes different and works really well alongside the sausage."

"My god, Nick, marry me." Monroe stepped closer to Nick, twisting his fingers into the other's tangled hair as he pressed his lips faintly to the shorter man's neck. Nick arched up into the gentle kiss and pressed his free hand to Monroe's chest, before gently pushing the other back with a small smile.

"Not right now, Monroe," Nick started, turning back to the breakfast that he was preparing, "you've got a week long business meeting to get to."


	9. Chapter 9

**I didn't think this chapter would take me so long, but it's finally here! Sorry that I'm not very good about updating. /: On the bright side, I found this '25 days of fics' thing on Tumblr with 25 different prompts and everything, so I'm gonna try to do that. No guarantees, but I'll give it my best. Let me know what you think of this chapter, reviews make my day!**

Monroe dug his phone out of the pocket of his coat when it started vibrating, looking at the screen to see that Rosalee was the one calling him before picking it up and holding the phone to his ear.

"Hey Rosalee, how are you?"

"I'm doing well, Monroe, how are you? Not still on the plane, I guess."

"No, I'm actually waiting at the airport. Nick should be here any minute to give me a ride home." Honestly, Nick should have been there half an hour earlier, and wasn't answering his phone.

"How was the business meeting?"

"It was good. Not exactly the most exciting thing in the world, but good."

"I'm glad to hear that. I was just calling to tell you that I kind of forgot you were out of town the other day, and I went over to your place, but Nick was there alone."

"Oh, yeah, Nick was feeding the fish for me while I was gone." Monroe fell back into one of the hundreds of seats in the airport, placing his bag down between his feet. If he was going to be waiting this long for Nick, he might as well get comfortable.

"Oh, okay, I see. I just thought that seemed kind of odd. Also…he seemed kind of on edge, like something was bothering him. When he gets there to pick you up, you might want to make sure he's okay."

"I will do that. I'm sure he was just tired or something, but thanks for letting me know."

"No problem. I've got to get going, so I'll talk to you later?"

"Yeah, talk to you soon. Bye, Rosalee."

"Bye, Monroe."

Monroe sighed after ending the call with Rosalee, looking down at his phone to see that Nick hadn't answered his texts, either. He put his phone back into his pocket and then picked up his bag, deciding to just take the bus into town.

; ;

Monroe was greeted with the familiar smell of coffee and brownies when he stepped into Nick's coffee shop, brushing the snow off of his shoulders before walking up to the counter. Nick was sitting at a stool behind the counter and had hardly even glanced up when Monroe entered the shop, his attention focused on the notebook in his lap.

"Hey, Nick," Monroe smiled, leaning forward against the counter.

"Hey," Nick replied flatly, not even looking up.

"I thought you were going to pick me up at the airport."

"I didn't have any gas."

"Well you at least could have called me to let me know, so that I didn't spend half an hour sitting at the airport."

"Sorry."

"Nick."

"What?"

"Look at me."

Nick looked up from whatever he had been scribbling down in his notebook with a slightly annoyed look on his face, and the first thing Monroe noticed about him was that he looked incredibly sleep deprived and his face appeared to have gotten thinner over the course of a week.

"What's wrong?" Monroe questioned, instantly going from annoyed to concerned.

"Nothing's wrong, I'm fine."

"Nick, you look sick."

"I'm not sick."

"Nick, clearly something's wrong, now tell me what's wrong."

"Who is Rosalee, huh? I was at your house to feed your fish the other day, and this lady comes over, introduces herself as Rosalee and says she's looking for you. Once I told her you were out of time she said something like, 'Oh yeah, I remember, his business trip.' Who is she, Monroe?"

"Rosalee is an old friend of mine, but she doesn't have anything to do with this, tell me what's going on with you."

"Why was she at your house?"

"I don't know, she probably wanted to talk or something."

"Are you seeing her? As more than a friend?"

"Nick."

"Tell me the truth."

"No."

"Of course you're not." Nick stood up from his stool, and turned his back to Monroe as he started to straighten something up.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, do you think I'm lying to you?"

"I think you could be."

"Are you serious, Nick? This soon after we make up over a stupid fight, you're trying to pick another one?"

"I am not trying to pick a fight with you!" Nick spun around and slammed his hands down on the counter, leaning in so that his face was only an inch from Monroe's. "I just don't want to have to keep worrying about our relationship all the time!"

"Well you don't have to!" Once Monroe yelled that out, he realized that they were arguing in a coffee shop that was always full of people, so he snapped his head around just to find the place empty. "What, did you forget to change the sign to 'open' this morning?"

"No, I didn't, thank you. It's been nice and warm out today, people don't want coffee when it's warm."

"Bullshit."

"I didn't ask your opinion."

"You are sick, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are, you look like you've lost twenty pound since I saw you last week."

"I haven't been feeling like eating much, I've been too busy worrying that my boyfriend is off sleeping with other people while on this business trip out of state."

"No you haven't, because you know I wouldn't do that. You haven't been eating, and you're trying to cover it up by picking a fight with me and pissing me off. What the hell, Nick?"

"It's nothing, none of your business."

"I'm your boyfriend, it is so my business."

"This place hasn't been very busy lately, I can just close up shop and kick you out."

"Nick…you're losing business, aren't you?"


	10. Chapter 10

**To anyone who reads this and still puts up with my horrible updating schedule: I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I haven't been very motivated to write at all for the past few months. So if there's anyone left to read this, thank you for spending time on this, and I'm sorry you had to wait so long for what ended up as such a short chapter. I will do my best to be better about writing and updating, but in the meantime, please let me know what you think of this chapter.**

Nick stared at Monroe for a minute, looking pissed and close to tears at the same time, before he broke and pulled the taller man into a tight hug. Monroe pulled Nick closer, burying his nose in the other's hair as Nick shook slightly.

"I'm sorry." Nick's face was buried in Monroe's shoulder, so his words sounded muffled. "I'm just so stressed and I haven't even slept for the past two days."

"It's gonna be okay," Monroe assured him.

After a few more minutes, Nick took a deep breath and let go of Monroe, taking a few steps back. He looked pretty awful to be completely honest, and on top of that his eyes had become red from the tears he was holding back.

"Tell me what's going on," Monroe insisted as he pulled himself up to sit on the front counter.

"Over the past month, customers have become scarce."

"The last _month_? This has been going on for that long without you telling me?"

"I didn't want to bother you, Monroe."

"Hey, that's what I'm here for. But go on, finish your explanation."

"I've been putting more money into this business than I've been making lately, and couldn't make the last two payments for the rent."

"Nick, then where are you staying?" Monroe asked, getting more concerned by the second.

"I'm sleeping here in the back. It was either leaving my apartment or selling the building," Nick explained.

"You clearly haven't been eating very well, either."

"I ate breakfast yesterday morning," Nick mumbled, as if that made up for all the meals he had to skip.

"Hey, is the shop open for business? Or am I not allowed to place an order?" Monroe asked, looking up at the menu on the wall.

"I can't afford not to be open; what can I get for you?" Nick asked, moving over to the register.

"I'll take a caramel mocha, two blueberry scones, and a cream cheese brownie," Monroe decided as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and handed Nick a twenty.

"But what about your diet?" Nick asked, taking the cash from Monroe but giving him a questioning look.

"Oh, I gave up on that about two minutes ago when I discovered that my boyfriend isn't making enough money to eat."

Nick couldn't even help but smile as he but the sweets on a plate for Monroe and turned on one of his many different coffee machines to make the drink for him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you to everyone who still reads this; I'm trying to keep up with it more. Let me know what you think of this chapter. :]**

"Rosalee, I'd like to formally introduce you to Nick. Nick, this is my friend Rosalee," Monroe introduced the two as he walked up to Rosalee with Nick right behind him.

"Nice to actually be introduced to you," Nick smiled as he shook Rosalee's hand.

"Yeah, it is," Rosalee agreed.

"Hey, we brought you something." Monroe handed a small paper bag and a styrofoam cup over to Rosalee.

"Oh, what is it?" Rosalee asked, taking the lid off of the cup to breathe in the scent of the hot liquid inside. "Regular coffee, I assume?"

"Yes it is. And there's a blueberry scone in the bag."

"That sounds great, thank you guys for bringing this to me. Where's it from?" Rosalee set the paper bag down on the front counter of her spice shop before taking a slow drink of the coffee.

"It's from my coffee shop," Nick explained.

"Wow, Nick, this coffee is really great."

"Thank you. It took me a long time to figure out the best way to make coffee."

"I've never been to your coffee shop, but I'll have to make a point to start going in there from now on."

"You love it and you haven't even tried the scone yet," Monroe pointed out.

"Here, share it with me." Rosalee pulled the scone out of the bag and broke it into three even pieces, giving one to Nick and one to Monroe.

"You have to tell me the recipe for these," Monroe told Nick as he bit into his piece, never getting over the great taste no matter how many times he ate one.

"This is probably the greatest blueberry scone I've ever tasted," Rosalee smiled, licking the crumbs of her piece off of her fingers.

"You must have really liked it," Monroe laughed at how quickly she had finished her piece.

"I'd say it's the greatest dessert I've ever tasted, but since I have relatives who make great desserts, I might get disowned for that," Rosalee admitted.

"That's good to hear," Nick smiled.

"Well, Rosalee, Nick and I were about to go out for lunch and just wanted to know if you'd like to join us."

"That sounds great. Just let me grab my coat and I'll be ready."

; ;

"So, Nick, for how long have you been running a coffee shop?" Rosalee asked. The three of them had finished their lunch and were finishing up their drink refills.

"Nearly six years now."

"Is Oregon the only place you've ever worked, or did you move your shop from somewhere else?"

"I actually was out in a corner of San Francisco for nearly a year before moving here. Business wasn't as great as it is here, and I had a friend up here who found the building for sale and called me up, and the rest is history pretty much," Nick explained.

"Really, San Francisco didn't hold a coffee shop very well?" Rosalee questioned in surprise.

"There were about a million other original and chain coffee shops. It did fairly well, but not good enough to pay the rent."

"So you had to take a pretty big risk moving out here," Monroe added.

"Yeah, it was definitely a risk. I remember for my first month out here I had problems sleeping because I was afraid I wouldn't make it."

"But you did. Because your coffee tastes like liquid gold, and not to mention your flavored drinks," Monroe said, licking his lips at the thought.

"That reminds me; do you guys want to come back to the shop and try peppermint mochas?"

"Absolutely, that sounds incredible," Rosalee said as she finished off the last of her drink.

"Wait, did you not have peppermint flavoring before?" Monroe asked, pulling his debit card out of his wallet to hand to the waiter when he walked up.

"No, I did, but I've been spending a long time trying to get the flavor just right, so it's coming out much later this year than it should have. Plus it's only seasonal."

"A flavor that you've been spending time to get just right? Of course I want to try it, let's go."

; ;

"Nick…this is _amazing," _Rosalee exclaimed after taking a drink of her peppermint mocha.

"Thank you," Nick said with a smile. "Monroe, what do you think?"

Monroe held up a finger in response to tell Nick to wait, not taking his cup away from his mouth. Nick smiled as he watched Monroe finish off his entire drink.

"This is the best peppermint mocha I've ever had. I think I'm going to love the holidays even more from now on," Monroe decided.

"Good to hear," Nick smiled, taking a drink of his own mocha as he leaned into Monroe's shoulder.


	12. Chapter 12

**Finally, a new chapter is up! I discovered that I can email memos from my mp3 to the computer, so I'm using that method to write whenever I can. This chapter isn't much, but I'm just glad to have something new up. Sorry for the weird spacing format, it does that when I put all the different memos together. Let me know what you guys think! :)**

"Monroe..." Nick arched his back, pressing into the light touch of the man above him. "Come on, please."  
"No way, you're gonna have to work for this one. Show me how much you want it." Monroe breathed those words across the skin of Nick's ear, before biting down gently on his earlobe.  
Nick gasped with pleasure, not even bothering to respond with words. Instead he grabbed onto Monroe's hand, dragging it down until they were at his waistline. Monroe thought about pulling back, wanting to keep his partner waiting, but decided to wait and see how far it went. Nick placed Monroe's hand over his hard, denim covered cock, holding back a groan.  
"This is how much I want it." Nick's words slurred a bit like he was high on anticipation, as he looked up into Monroe's eyes.  
"Well, that's good enough for me." Monroe had intended to tease the younger man for much longer, but honestly his cock was far too interested in the hard length in Nick's pants.  
Just as Monroe was unbuttoning Nick's jeans, Nick suddenly sat up with a noise of surprise. Monroe was about to push him back down, thinking that he was just trying to gain dominance, when Nick scrambled out from under him and ran across Monroe's bedroom towards the bathroom.  
"Nick?" Monroe slid off of the bed, walking into the bathroom behind the other. He didn't exactly know what he expected to see, but it definitely wasn't Nick bent over the toilet vomiting.

"Monroe..." Nick groaned, another round of vomit making its appearance.

"Nick, what happened? Did I do something?" Monroe dropped to his knees on the tile, placing a hand on Nick's back.  
"No, man, it's not you. The anticipation just hit my stomach like a ton of bricks." Nick was panting a bit for air, but he had at least stopped vomiting.  
"Nick, people don't usually vomit when they get excited about sex. And all of that is stomach acid, when's the last time you ate?"  
"When we went out with Rosalee," Nick confessed, leaning his head onto Monroe's shoulder.  
"That was two days ago! The anticipation probably just sparked a stomach ache from lack of you having anything in there. You have got to eat, Nick."  
"I can't afford to right now, I'm hardly keeping up with payments on the shop."  
"That's it, we're going out for dinner right now," Monroe decided as he got to his feet, helping Nick up after him.  
"Monroe, you don't have to do this." Nick sighed, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth.  
"I am well aware that I don't have to, but I want to. It'll be my pleasure. Now get cleaned up, coffee boy, we're going somewhere nice."

** ; ;**

Nick and Monroe got dressed, Nick borrowing a nicer shirt from Monroe, and Monroe drove them downtown to a high-end steakhouse.  
"Monroe, this place is really expensive," Nick pointed out as they stepped out of the car.  
"And after this we're going grocery shopping."

Nick sighed, following Monroe inside. Since it was early in the day, and the restaurant had only been open for about an hour, they didn't have to wait very long for a table.

"If you don't eat all of your meal, get a box and take it back to the shop with you, okay?"

"Got it," Nick answered through a mouthful of one of the rolls that the waitress had brought to the table.  
The two of them talked about various subjects while waiting for their food, then ate in near silence when it came. It was the kind of dinner that Monroe would have with friends all the time, but Nick never got the chance to eat.  
"Hey...Monroe?"  
"Yes?" Monroe looked up from his plate, taking a drink of water as he kept his eyes locked on Nick's.  
"Sorry for ruining the moment earlier."  
"Oh, absolutely not."  
"I wouldn't have vomited if I could help it."  
"Nick, it is absolutely not a problem. I'm more interested in keeping you healthy than I am in having sex."  
"Well, that's good to know."  
"On a far more serious note, can I ask you something?"  
"Ask away," Nick answered before taking a bite of his dinner.  
"I've been thinking, I mean since you lost your apartment and I've got so much space in my house, I figured that it would be much more comfortable for you, and I'd love for you to..."  
"Yeah?"  
"Will you move in with me?"  
"Are you serious?" Nick questioned, placing his fork down on the table.

"I am completely serious. I can even help you move your stuff out of the shop."  
"Yeah...definitely, Monroe."


End file.
